Solar Panels Removed

I spent two days at Fremantle with the modest goal of removing the 65 watt solar panels that had served me faithfully for 9 years.  I achieved that and was able to begin exploiting opportunities that presented themselves.

On Friday afternoon I visited the boat and disconnected the solar panels, documenting the wiring and taking great care to avoid damaging them, because Stephen was looking forward to  my gift of the panels and controller.  I then used an 11 mm and a small adjustable spanner to loosen each of the 6 small bolts  holding down each panel. 

Frame after removal of bimini and solar panels.  Note rusty Rutland tail.

While doing that work I noted how much easier it would be to remove the rusting tail of the Rutland wind charger now that the panels and bimini were out  of the way, allowing me to work from inside of the boat rather than hanging from  the stern of the boat as I had been forced to do in Argentina.  And ah, oh yes, I would now be able to clean the connection of the HF radio antenna cable above the frame, about two meters up the backstay.  These would be what Arnold would term "piggy back" jobs which would provide great yield at the cost of a modest lengthening of the solar panel  project.

Before leaving the boat I lashed down the panels with rope.  The wind was gusty and I hoped that it would be calmer the next day because otherwise I would have to postpone the removal.

I arrived at the boat at about 9 AM on Saturday morning and by the time Stephen arrived at 10 AM there were only two partially loosened screws holding down each panel and they were ready for extraction. The gang plank was in place for easy movement between the boat and the side finger jetty.  The wind had calmed down to a steady breeze. 

The planning and preparation went well because the operation went like clockwork.  We slide each panel forward off the frame then carried it to my X-Trail.  Two  hours later Stephen was on his way home in his car to await the arrival of the panels.

New Panel

Specifications

I returned that afternoon and spent several hours polishing the upper reaches of the cockpit stainless steel platform that were now easily accessible.

On Sunday morning I removed the tail of the Rutland wind charger.  This proved to be more difficult than I had expected because the area where the mild steel tail interfaced with the stainless steel shaft of the wind charger had swelled with corrosion and I had to work hard using liberal amounts of WD-40 and a hammer to break the seals.  Had I waited another year I would have been in big trouble with the removal.

Back home that afternoon I spent more than an hour using a wire brush on the angle grinder to remove the paint and rust from the mild steel tail then laid on a coat of Wattyl Killrust metal primer.

Rutland tail cleaned and primed